Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s costars are stepping up for his widow, Tenisha Warner.
“Sending you and your beautiful girl all the love What a beautiful tribute and we are here for you,” Emily VanCamp, who played nurse practitioner Nicolette Nevin on the series from 2018 to 2023, wrote in the comments section of Tenisha’s emotional Friday, September 12 Instagram post, in which she came forward to thank friends, family and her husband’s fans for “holding us in so much love” in the wake of Malcolm-Jamal’s untimely death.
“This is a beautiful tribute Tenisha,” Manish Dayal, who played Dr. Devon Pravesh, also wrote. “Thank you for honoring him in this profound way if you need anything at all, please don’t hesitate.”
Anuja Joshi, who played Dr. Leela Devi, commented, “Sending you so much love Tenisha. Holding you and your daughter close in prayer.”
Malcolm-Jamal died on July 20, 2025, after drowning at the Playa Grande beach in Costa Rica during a family trip. He was 54.
“Thank you for holding us in so much love during this tender time,” Tenisha wrote in the caption on her post. “Tomorrow marks our anniversary — and my heart is wide open. For the first time, I’m sharing a glimpse of the love that began it all.”
She added, “I can still hear my husband’s laugh, still feel the way he made room for every part of me — every tear, every dream. Today, in his honor, my daughter and I are launching River & Ember and officially opening The Warner Family Foundation.
“Together we carry the legacy my husband and I began — one that nurtures children’s inner light and gives young artists the freedom to create outside the lines. This is love, Still moving. Still making. Still carrying us forward.”
Tenisha included a lengthier statement about River & Ember, an organization that will tend to the needs of children, in the post itself.
“River & Ember was born not only from my knowledge as a doctor of psychology, but from my own journey with grief and love. It’s about creating rituals that outlast us — the kind that our children will carry as a legacy,” she explained. “River & Ember began with two simple forces: the steady flow that carries us forward, and the quiet warmth that keeps us alive inside. My husband embodied both. His presence was a river — steady, sure, and always moving toward what matters.”
As she put it, her husband’s “spirit was an ember — glowing with encouragement, igniting possibility in those around him. His way of seeing the world — that children’s inner light is worth tending with care and constancy — is the heartbeat of everything we create here.”
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